


Tea and Sympathy

by cyrene



Series: Zutara Week 2018 [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Iroh loves tea, PARENTING IS HARD AND SCARY, Zutara Week 2018, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-20 22:44:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyrene/pseuds/cyrene
Summary: Iroh has always been there for Zuko, whenever he needs him. And he really, really needs him. Like, a lot.





	Tea and Sympathy

**Author's Note:**

> Better late than never? Sorry, I've been sick.

When the kettle of water came to a boil, Iroh added the water to his pretty pot, and placed it on the stove. Adding some of his favorite blend of jasmine tea to the water, he allowed the tea to steep for five minutes in silence, then strained the tea. He poured two cups, added ice to cool it down, followed by milk and boba syrup.

 

Once he had done all this, he set the cups down on the table, one for himself and one for his nephew. They sipped in silence for a minute until Zuko was finally ready to talk.

 

“I'm scared,” he said quietly. “What if... what if I'm like Father?”

 

Iroh pretended to think. It wouldn't do to give him the answer too quickly. “I think the simple fact that you ask that question, and fear the answer, means that you are not.”

 

“But... what if... what if I fail?”

 

“The only failure,” Iroh opined, “is to never try.” That wasn't true, but Zuko did not need to hear about Iroh's failure with Lu Ten just at that moment.

 

“I don't have much choice there,” Zuko replied with a wry twist of his mouth. “It's a little late for that.”

 

Iroh remembered, vividly, the day Lu Ten was born, and the terror that accompanied it. He had been to war, and had never in his life been so frightened as he was looking into the faces of his wife and newborn son. Would he be a good father, or would he be like his father? Iroh had vowed that day that he would do everything he could to be better than Azulon had been, better than any father in the whole of the Fire Nation.

 

The next time he had felt that way, that same desire to _do right_ , had been when he sat by the bedside of the man in front of him. Zuko had been thirteen then, and recently burned by his own father badly enough that Iroh wondered if he would ever recover. The skin, of course, would heal, but that was not what worried Iroh enough to leave his home and travel the world on a fruitless quest for honor.

 

Zuko drained his cup like the answer was at the bottom – Iroh's nephew never did have an appreciation for tea.

 

Iroh would have loved to tell him that it would all get better with time. That one day he would realize that he knew what he was doing, and would feel confident in his decisions. But, while Iroh had often humored Zuko, and many times allowed him to lead them, even to their own doom, he had never lied to the boy. Not once.

 

So he just said: “My nephew, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You will be fine. Better than fine – you will be a great father.”

 

Katara's grandmother, Kanna, walked in then.

 

“She's waiting on you, boy,” Kanna said, “says she won't be having any baby at all if you don't get your butt in there.”

 

Zuko visibly gulped.

 

“Don't worry,” Iroh assured him. “Everything is going to be fine.”

 


End file.
